An Irish Pub’s Toast to Women

Image

At Grace bar in Midtown East, among the mixologists asked to create cocktails, are, from left, Pamela Wiznitzer, Lucinda Sterling, Lynnette Marrero, Franky Marshall, Jane Elkins, Eryn Reece and Jane Danger.CreditCreditEvan Sung for The New York Times

By Robert Simonson

Aug. 13, 2013

Danny McDonald, an owner of several New York bars, including Swift Hibernian Lounge and Ulysses, had been nursing the idea of opening a place that honored “the more feminine side of the Irish pub” for years. But when he thought of his partners (Peter Poulakakos, Paul Lamas and Michael Jewell), he realized something was missing: women.

“I’m trying to celebrate the feminine side, and I look around and it’s all guys,” he said. Soon enough, Mr. McDonald hit upon a way to address that imbalance. Grace, a bar and restaurant that he hopes to open in Midtown East by the end of this month, will have a cocktail program created entirely by female mixologists.

The bar is named after Grace O’Malley, a 16th-century Irish pirate and chieftain. And the women enlisted to draw up the drinks menu include a murderers’ row of some of the city’s best mixologists. Among them are Meaghan Dorman of the bar Raines Law Room; Jane Danger of the NoMad; Jane Elkins, formerly of Booker & Dax; Franky Marshall of the Dead Rabbit and the Tippler; Ivy Mix of Clover Club; Eryn Reece of Death & Co. and Mayahuel; Lucinda Sterling of Middle Branch; and Pamela Wiznitzer of the Dead Rabbit.

“It seemed like a great way to have a group of women working together on a menu,” said Lynnette Marrero, another mixologist who is taking part. Along with Ms. Mix, she founded Speed Rack, a traveling cocktail competition that spotlights the female bartending talent in various cities.

Women are far from rare in the cocktail world. But when it comes time to create a drink program from the ground up, they rarely get the call.

Image

At Grace, the brand ambassadors Charlotte Voisey, left, and Lynn House are also contributing drinks.CreditEvan Sung for The New York Times

Mr. McDonald said he met many of the Grace group through the Dead Rabbit, a financial district tavern where he is an owner. “Every one of them has distinguished themselves in the industry,” he said. “They’re bold women.”

Each will contribute a cocktail to the bar’s opening menu, with a name inspired by Grace O’Malley and a base spirit suggested by Mr. McDonald. For instance, Ms. Danger’s drink the White Seahorse (made of gin, egg white, absinthe, cucumber, lemon juice, orgeat syrup and peach eau de vie) borrows one of O’Malley’s nicknames. Ms. Marshall’s mix of Cognac, grapefruit liqueur, crème de cacao, absinthe and lemon juice is called Belclare, after the seat of the O’Malley clan. Additional cocktails will be created by prominent female brand ambassadors, roving spokeswomen for particular liquor brands who are often plucked from the bartending ranks.

None of the women will be part of Grace’s permanent staff, which will include men and women. But each will work a guest bartender stint during the first six months, and will help train the regular bartenders.

Grace will also offer a selection of craft beers, a large wine list, a vast selection of spirits (with an emphasis on Irish whiskeys) and a menu focused on fresh seafood. The chef is Ryan Schmidtberger, formerly of Lure Fishbar and the River Café.

The bar’s name has meanings beyond the historical. “It’s also a name that people use at mealtime,” Mr. McDonald said. “And it’s just the state thereof. We could all use a little more of it.”